lt is one of the most haunting photos in the Edmonton Journal archives: a picture of Thomas Svekla, dressed in a green camouflage jacket and tinted round sunglasses, smiling tauntingly at the camera, his finger held to his lips. “Shhhh,” he seems to be saying. “I’ve got a secret.”

Take the experience of Robyn Leslie, a 25-year-old administrator from Calgary, for example. A single buyer at the time of her search, Leslie was a property virgin looking for a home in the southeast area of the city with minimal outdoor upkeep and lots of room and style inside.

Then there’s John Hooper* — a 50-something semi-retired business man who was on a quest to find a maintenance-free lifestyle to enjoy with his wife, Sandra.*

Hooper also has a vacation home and a severe case of wanderlust, so a lock-and-leave lifestyle was a must. But he also wanted to be downtown.

Condo search takes Leslie out of the box

After initially thinking she wanted to live in a standard condo, Leslie discovered, upon starting her search, that wasn’t what she wanted after all.

“I realized I couldn’t see myself living in that sort of place for the long term,” she says, which is when her focus switched to townhomes.

“I initially was looking at older homes, which weren’t right for me because of the renovations almost all of them required. I heard that Cardel Lifestyles was building townhomes in an area of the city I was interested in living in, so I took a look and fell in love with the whole kit and caboodle right away.”

Leslie ended up buying a 1,287-square-foot townhome in Cardel’s Riverside project in Chaparral Valley. Her Riverwalk floor plan has three bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths.

Some of the most attractive features are obvious, she says: She wakes up to views of a pristine golf course, there’s access to transit nearby and her home is loaded with amenities (among them, a yard to call her own, extra space for guests and an open-concept layout for entertaining).

But Leslie says it was the personal touches from Cardel Lifestyles that ultimately won her over.

“I loved that the builders made every detail important, and I truly couldn’t have picked a more perfect home for me if I tried. Every room has a touch of my personality in it, from the colour of the walls to the design of the kitchen, and that’s all because of how encouraged I was to be involved in the process,” she says.

Leslie also loves the idea of never moving again. “Part of what makes my home so great is my wonderful neighbours, an amazing view, that I’m surrounded by peaceful tranquility and that there’s so much room for the future. I could not have asked for a better building experience.”

Couple finds lock-and-leave the perfect fit

For John Hooper* of Calgary, though size and location were the key factors he and his wife were most interested in initially, it was the total package offered by The River — a luxury residential development developed by 26th Avenue River Investments Inc., an affiliate of Ledcor Properties Inc. — that played into their decision to buy.

“My wife and I are in our 50s, are empty-nesters, travel a lot and have a winter home in the Phoenix area. We knew we were ready to buy a condo when I took semi-retirement and our children had been gone for a few years,” he says.

Knowing that they wanted a roomy condo in the inner core of the city that offered high-quality features was the first step. And after considering many similar condo developers with projects happening in their desired area, they opted to buy a suite in the The River Tower because of the project’s location, high-quality features and the quality of its team.

Slated to start construction by the end of this summer, The River consists of 27-suite tower and 11 townhomes near the corner of 26th Avenue and First Street S.W., along the Elbow River Pathway.

“This condo project has everything,” says Hooper. “It has the best location in town. The floor plans have the best layouts, and the interior has the best quality materials and appliances.

“We came into this knowing what we wanted, and we have achieved pretty much everything we were looking for. We’re close to all the amenities we desire, it’s on the river, is quiet and surrounded with beautiful scenery in the heart of the city. It’s a five-minute walk to our health club and since it’s on the city’s bike path, it encourages a healthy, active lifestyle. There are also great restaurants and shopping around the corner, and it’s easy to get to the downtown area without having to live there. It meets our lifestyle needs for the next 20 to 25 years.”